


The Last Three

by welcometomystic



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Feeling of sacrificing oneself, Lots of feelings of peace in this death, Tread With Caution, Unspoken Klance, be careful, lance dies, mostly just if you squint though, trigger warning
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-11
Updated: 2018-03-08
Packaged: 2019-02-13 10:58:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12982605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/welcometomystic/pseuds/welcometomystic
Summary: The last three seconds before Lance dies.





	1. Deliver Me

**Author's Note:**

> POSSIBLE TRIGGERS ARE CONTAINED HERE. BE CAREFUL IF YOU ARE SENSITIVE TO DEATH OR THE THOUGHT OF DYING.
> 
> My laptop’s kinda broken. My stomach hurts. I feel kinda lonely. I cried. I’ve been reading a lot of angsty fics recently.
> 
> Have an angsty Lance fic. So much Langst. All the Langst.
> 
> (Best read while listening to “Never Let Me Go” by Florence + The Machine, because that’s what I wrote it to and it really encompasses the story in my opinion)

He didn’t feel it. Not really. Not as much as he thought he would.

 

Lance, of course, felt the initial slicing pain of a sword being thrust into his abdomen, and then he was staring up at the ceiling. The very air around him was pulsing, and yet so still. It squeezed Lance’s body ever so slightly, then let him go. Then it would repeat itself. Through all that, though, Lance felt as if he was stuck in a place without time. He felt like a mosquito in amber, frozen and suspended as if in the constant state of perpetual motion, or the lack thereof. Lance couldn’t really tell.

 

He could hear the screams. So far away, they seemed, and slower than usual.

 

_“LAAAAAANNNNNCCCCCEEEEEEEEEEE!!!”_

_“Oh God, no. Guys, we have to-!”_

_“PALADINS!!-”_

_“LANCE!! Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh shit-”_

 

They’d have to forgive him for not responding, but Lance’s mouth didn’t want to work. It was too busy splattering up some warm liquid. He was choking on it.

Lance remembered the time he went to swim in the ocean with his older siblings and their friends. He’d had to wear a swimming diaper, and he could recall choking on the water then too. The feeling of sinking, falling slowly, water filling his lungs. He’d been so terrified at the time, and yet it had been so peaceful. He’d never felt more whole before then, more connected to nature.

This was like water, like the ocean, but thicker. It didn’t sting, but it was so _thick_ , so _red_.

                    

Speaking of red, Keith was holding him now. When had that happened?

 

“Lance? Lance, you have to hold on. We’ve got air support now, I just need you to hold on until Black get here, okay? Then we can get you inside a pod and everything will be okay.”

 

Keith looked and sounded so concerned. He wasn’t angry, he was _worried_.

Just as Lance noted this, as he saw Keith’s brow wrinkling and his eyes tearing up ever so slightly, he noticed that his vision was fading. Keith was slowly slipping into darkness.

 

Lance was starting to become afraid now.

 

“Can’t…” Lance gasped, his voice gurgling slightly around the viscous liquid bubbling up his throat. “Can’t _see_ … Keith.”

 

“It’s going to be okay, Lance.” Keith’s voice called to him in the darkness. “God, your eyes, they look so… You’re gonna be _fine_.”

 

Lance could feel his breathing become shallower, his chest almost vibrating with the speed at which his lungs were moving. Their effort was so honorable, considering the circumstances; like soldiers charging headfirst into a battle they know that they’re destined to lose.

 

**_Tick._ **

 

Lance couldn’t feel his hands or feet, he noticed.

 

Just like when he was a drowning child. He supposed that he still was, now.

 

He could feel the same sensations as before, and experienced the same visions, but with a twist.

 

Lance saw his earthen family for only a couple of moments, like a video without sound.

Mama heating up tortillas in the pan.

Lupita on the phone with her boyfriend.

Daniel playing video games with Jaime, trying to break as many laws as possible in their game before Papa caught them playing when they should be finishing their chores.

 

But then another family took hold.

 

Lance saw Pidge trying desperately to hook up her and Lance’s new gaming console from the mall.

He saw Hunk making food goo pancakes, and Coran applauding him for his great use of their current foods to make something ‘extraordinary’.

He saw Shiro sketching in the observatory late at night, and Allura drinking a cup of some warm drink as she sat with him in silence.

Lastly, Lance saw Keith.

 

Keith.

The man holding him now, reassuring him that everything would be fine when they both knew that Lance was slipping.

Keith,

The one that was petting his hair away from his face as he rocked them back and forth even while the tension in Lance’s body released itself at an alarming rate.

_Keith._

 

Keith was the last on Lance’s mind, and that’s how he knew. However, he could not speak. Lance instead reached a hand up to find Keith’s shoulder, then slide up to hold the side of his face. Keith held his hand there with one of his own, the other staying where it had been pressing down on Lance’s abdomen this whole time. Huh. Lance hadn’t even noticed.

 

Lance was dying.

He knew this.

 

He accepted his fate, knowing full well that the others would be able to carry on without him. Keith would be in unbearable pain at first, Lance knew, but he’d eventually be able to power through and protect the whole universe. He had always been capable of it, but maybe he needed the extra push.

 

Lance had accepted the fact that he’d never see his family again long ago, and he had to accept now that he’d never see his paladinian family as well. Maybe in another life, or a life after life itself. The thought eased Lance even more, a soft smile turning one side of his mouth up ever so slightly, his lips parting to show Keith his bloody teeth.

 

**_Tick._ **

 

_Lance wasn’t giving up, he was just giving in._

 

Wasn’t that in a song from earth? Lance couldn’t recall, but it felt so right in that moment.

 

Lance was no longer breathing, and his head had lolled back by this point, though the smile remained on his face as the ocean swallowed him up.

 

His small body was being pulled into the depths of the ocean and he was at peace. He was alone, yes, but he wasn’t lonely like he had been before. He wasn’t necessarily numb, he was fluid. He moved with the water. He wasn’t being dragged, he flowed through the light currents like he was a part of them himself.

 

He was alive.

He was alive.

He was alive.

Lance was alive.

He was alive for once in his life.

He felt so alive,

So very alive.

 

**_Tick._ **


	2. Sing from that Piano

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith watches Lance die.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to write half of this chapter instead of studying for finals, and the other half on Christmas, sooo.... MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
> 
> Also there's probably some mistakes because I wrote the majority of this fairly quickly and I am running on very little sleep right now ;D

No.

…

_No._

 

Keith wouldn’t accept it, _couldn’t_ accept it.

Lance wasn’t… no, he had just fainted from blood loss. With his eyes open. And his chest wasn’t moving, but it was simply because of the armor. It had to be moving, Lance was still breathing, Keith just couldn’t tell because of the chest plate. Lance wasn’t…

 

“SHIRO!!” Keith screamed over the comms, knowing full well that he didn’t really need to be so loud, but he was desperate.

 

“Keith, what happened?!” Shiro asked, and Keith could see his form quickly approaching. He must have been running since Keith first approached Lance. “Why isn’t Lance responding?!”

 

“We need to get him to a healing pod! Coran, ready a pod!!” Keith ordered, forgetting for a moment that he was no longer the black paladin. He didn’t care though. Lance needed to get in a pod, Keith needed to see his eyes without the glazed-over look to them.

 

Shiro was now sliding along the dirt on his knees to get to Keith, who was still holding Lance’s limp body. He was about to take Lance from Keith’s arms but Keith practically snarled as he pulled Lance’s bloody form closer to his own. Lance’s hand fell lifelessly from Keith’s face when Keith let go of his hand, and Shiro noticed.

 

Shiro froze and slowly went to look at Lance’s face… his eyes were open and glassy, and he was still smiling, blood glittering on his teeth. Lance’s skin was ashen-looking, and he was…

 

“Coran, cancel the pod.” Shiro spoke, his voice near emotionless. He had to be the leader right now, he couldn’t break down. One of them already has, he can’t risk doing the same.

 

“But-!” Coran replied, utterly confused and it showed in his voice.

 

 ** _“CORAN, PREPARE THE POD!!”_** Keith bellowed, his voice breaking halfway through as if he was holding in tears. He was.

 

“Keith…” Shiro said, his voice deep with grief of his own, but also with worry. “Keith, he’s gone.”

 

Keith lost it then, his shoulders shaking as he started to sob, pulling Lance’s face to his chest and wrapping his arms tighter around his now ridiculously heavy form. When had Lance gotten so heavy? The boy was practically skin and bones, at least from what Keith could tell.

 

 _“Shiro’s_ **_lying!!_** Lance is alive! Coran, he’s _alive_ , but we don’t have much _time!”_ Keith howled between sobs.

 

Lance wasn’t dead.

Lance was alive.

Lance is alive.

Lance can’t be dead, he’s right here.

 

“He’s right here.” Keith rambled. “He’s here and he’s just sleeping… He’s sleeping, guys. Just sleeping. He’s sleeping, he’s sleeping, he’s sle _eping, he’s sleeping, hE’S JUST SLEEPING. **LANCE IS SLEEPING, LANCE ISN’T DEAD. LANCE ISN’T DEAD, SHIRO!! I NEVER TOLD HIM AND HE CAN’T DIE IF HE DOESN’T KNOW, SO HE’S ALIVE! HE’S ALIVE, HE’S ALIVE HE’S ALIVEHE’SALIVEHE’SALIVEHE-!!**_ ”

 

“Oh god…” Pidge’s voice rang out into the communication line, and then a gasp from Hunk, followed by muffled sobs.

 

As much as Shiro tried to pry Lance from Keith’s arms, Keith just tightened his hold on Lance’s body. Shiro’s human arm would move to Keith’s right, then quickly move to his left. Keith’s shoulder would block the blow, but then Shiro’s Galra arm was wrapping under Keith’s and Shiro’s hand gripped Lance’s armor. Suddenly, Keith heard a battle cry and Shiro was jumping back like he was avoiding a grenade.

 

The battle cry had come from Keith.

Shiro was bleeding, but only a small bit.

A mark on Shiro’s neck. The part his suit didn’t cover, along his jaw. A red, dripping rip along his shoulder, sliced through the fabric there.

 

Keith could taste iron in his mouth.

 

His hands inside the gloves were warm and wet.

Keith wrapped those arms around Lance once again, painting his armor red along the back to match the patchwork on its front.

 

“Keith…” Shiro breathed, his voice laced with shock. Why was he shocked? Keith wasn’t. Lance could fall asleep anywhere, the little shit.

 

“KEITH! WHAT THE HEL-” Hunk started to screech, crouching over Shiro with his face invading Keith’s personal bubble, but Keith quickly shushed him with a hand to his mouth.

 

 _“SHHHHHH!!”_ Keith whispered almost comically. “He needs to sleep! He worked really hard today, he deserves a nap.”

 

“Keith, he isn’t-!”

 

**_ “I TOLD YOU HE WAS SLEEPING HUNK!! SHUT UP! LANCE NEEDS HIS BEAUTY SLEEP, OKAY?! HE NEEDS HIS SLEEP SO TOMORROW I CAN TELL HIM! I CAN TELL HIM, I’LL FINALLY TELL HIM AND HE’LL BE AWAKE AND HE’LL HEAR IT AND LAUGH AT ME BUT HE’LL KNOW OKAY?! SO SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT YOUR QUIZNACKING-!!” _ **

 

Keith didn’t notice Pidge’s slow, soft, _silent_ approach at his rear until just then. He was too late though. She shoved the syringe into his jugular just as Keith was about to swing behind himself and he gasped. Pidge jumped back before Keith could recover from the mild shock and switch to action again, and then he wasn’t feeling so good. Keith felt the whole planet start spinning like a zero-gravity ride at an earthen carnival. He couldn’t breathe. He was gasping for air as his vision started to black out.

 

“L-…”

 

Keith was dying.

He was dead, and Lance was alive.

How could he be dead? Pidge wouldn’t stab him. She’s not like that.

 

Then Keith saw him.

He saw the silhouette surrounded by light, like a beautiful eclipse full of grace. If eclipses could be full of grace, that is.

 

Keith smiled.

 

“ _Lance_ …”

 

**_Thump._ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have much more planned now, but keep me posted as to any ideas you have now because I may keep them in mind as I write ;D Kudos are nice, comments are amazing, bookmarks are fantastic, but ALL SUPPORT IS APPRECIATED!! :D THANK YOOOOUUUUUUU!! <3


	3. So Darkness I Became

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I decided to incorporate actual quotes from the song used to inspire this chapter in the text itself. For this reason, I ESPECIALLY recommend listening to "Cosmic Love" by Florence + The Machine while reading, or at least while reading the quotes. (It's fairly easy to tell where they are).
> 
> If you couldn't tell, I like using music to inspire my writing, and I've challenged myself greatly this time: I'm trying to write a fic with only Florence + The Machine songs!! It's very difficult, but it soothes my need for organization X3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to incorporate actual quotes from the song used to inspire this chapter in the text itself. For this reason, I ESPECIALLY recommend listening to "Cosmic Love" by Florence + The Machine while reading, or at least while reading the quotes. (It's fairly easy to tell where they are).
> 
> If you couldn't tell, I like using music to inspire my writing, and I've challenged myself greatly this time: I'm trying to write a fic with only Florence + The Machine songs!! It's very difficult, but it soothes my need for organization X3
> 
> DISCLAIMER: THIS CHAPTER IS VERY DARK AND HEAVY. I EXPECT THE NEXT PART TO BE MUCH LESS SO, BUT STILL! BE CAREFUL!! TREAD WITH CAUTION.

Keith lay on his back.

 

It had been six months since Lance died now. _Happy Six-Month-iversary_.

 

Keith still couldn’t believe how simple it was, how quick; like a rabbit darting through a field, Lance had bled out. Wasn’t that supposed to take a while? It had only been three seconds.

 

Coran had stated that his wounds had been incredibly fatal, as if the Galra had been studying the human body and aiming for all the right places. Keith didn’t want to think about what that entailed.

 

There were a lot of things Keith didn’t want to think about, it seemed: Lance’s death, the Galra’s target practice, _Lance’s death_ , why everyone wouldn’t stop checking on him every _hour_ of every _day_ , **_Lance’s death_.**

 

He couldn’t stop. Keith couldn’t stop thinking about it. Lance had died, _in his arms_ , and he’d never said… never _admitted_ … The thought made bile rise from his stomach to burn at his esophagus. He didn’t mind, though. Nothing was as painful as watching the life leave Lance’s eyes.

 

Not the Blade’s missions, not Haggar’s torture methods, not even the beaten puppy look in Shiro’s eyes when he caught Keith staring out into the depths of the universe like the empty shell of a being that he had become.

 

Keith couldn’t stop thinking about how, despite the multiple layers of armor separating Keith’s body from Lance’s, he could still feel the blood seeping into his suit. He’d felt it spreading, caking itself to his skin. Keith couldn’t forget how cold Lance’s hand had been as it had caressed his face, his blind eyes staring at Keith’s right temple instead of into his eyes. He hadn’t felt the dead weight of Lance’s body lift itself from his form since, even after he had been sedated and placed in a healing pod.

 

The memory still haunted him at every waking moment. No, even in his _nightmares_. He doesn’t dream anymore.

 

The seal on the door hissed, and then light flooded his room, temporarily blinding him. His eyes hadn’t been exposed to light for hours. It had to be hours, the paladins wouldn’t let him go days without it. That was the only way Keith could tell time at this point, really: when the paladins took their shifts checking up on him. It wasn’t hourly anymore, mainly just at meals, but it still continued.

 

“Keith?” Shiro’s voice called, breaking the man from his requiem.

 

Keith didn’t respond, and yet somehow Shiro knew he was awake. The paladins had gotten more insightful over the past few months.

 

Shiro walked into Keith’s room uninvited. Though it wasn’t fair to say that Keith would use the energy to invite him whether he wanted to or not; he wanted not, having no energy to do so.

 

“Keith…” Shiro sighed heavily as he sat on the edge of the bed, a hand coming to rest on Keith’s marble bicep. “You need to move past this. Everyone grieves their own way, I get that, but… Keith, this isn’t healthy for _anyone_. We’re all really worried about you.”

 

Keith didn’t respond, his eyes still staring at the ceiling… at those pretty little stars Lance had painted there, glowing in the dark with some alien chemical or material that Keith had no knowledge of. Keith didn’t know quite a lot of things, it seemed; especially when it came to Lance.

 

“Keith-”

 

“He’s in the dark.” Keith responded, though not to any question he or Shiro had heard. His voice was little more than a croak, rattling and grumbling with a hoarseness that would have startled Keith himself if he’d had the capacity to be startled anymore.

 

“Wh-What?” Shiro stuttered in reply. _He’s in the dark?_ What the hell did that even mean?

 

Keith began to sing and, oh, what a melancholy utterance it was.

 

_“And in the dark, I can hear your heartbeat;_

_I tried to find the sound._

_But then it stopped, and I was in the darkness,_

_So darkness I became.”_

 

His rattling call, like that of a siren slowly waning, carried on so quietly that Shiro had to focus intently to hear it.

 

_“The stars, the moon, they have all been blown out;_

_You left me in the dark._

_No dawn, no day; I’m always in this twilight_

_In the shadow of your heart.”_

 

And yet, what made the tune truly haunting were the words, and how Keith sang like a robot attempting to feel happiness. It wasn’t quite there, and the imitation came off as more obsessive and unsettling the longer it continued.

 

_“I took the stars from our eyes, **and then I made a map**_

_And knew that somehow I could **find my way back.**_

_Then I heard **your heart beating,** you were **in the darkness too.**_

**_So, I stayed  i n  t h  e    d  a  r   k   n    e    s    s       w     I     T    H_ ** **_Y   O  U .”_ **

 

At this point, Shiro was terrified. Keith sounded completely unhinged at this point, and the leader had no idea what to do. Thank god Pidge decided to create a separate set of communicators, one that didn’t connect to their suits, after Hunk had to catch a collapsing Keith four months ago without his helmet on. It had been horrible at the time, but now Shiro could press on the spot behind his earlobe and a communicator formed around his ear, microphone attaching to his cheek as he spoke rapidly.

 

“Pidge, I need you to fire up the castleship’s memory of Lance. Keith has finally lost it and I think the only person that can help Keith through this is Lance himself, considering none of us are psychiatrists.” Shiro mumbled, grunting as he lifted Keith’s weight onto his back… and almost throwing the kid into the ceiling he’d been so interested only moments ago. Why was Keith so light?

 

“Shiro, what’s going on?” She asked, her tone far beyond worry.

 

“He’s… singing? Honestly, he sounds like a psychotic serial killer just walked straight out of a slasher film and switched bodies with Keith.” What a vivid description. Still, it was true. Words couldn’t begin to describe how chilling the experience was, and still it continued even as Shiro carried him off to the place Keith had vowed not to visit.

 

“Shiro, that doesn’t mean you can just _disregard his-”_

 

 ** _“I don’t care!!”_** Shiro almost screamed in reply. “It may work, it may not, but I can’t just sit here and let his brain fry until he dies of a goddamn broken heart! Can _you?!”_

 

The only response Shiro got was the hissing of the door to the room specifically for Lance’s memory.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is dedicated to Jonsie for commenting on this fic after so long. Honestly, I probably would have forgotten all about this; the beautiful readers, the amazing feedback, and how much fun I had writing this in the first place. I love doing this, it really brings me joy and an escape from my terrible anxiety and ADD. Thank you so much for yelling at me Jonsie, and for pulling my head back out of my ass XD I hope you have a wonderful day/night, and I hope I can continue to bring you joy and entertainment with my writing.
> 
> And, I thank all of you, too!! The support you guys have given me is so touching and powerful, even if it's just a sentence-long comment, or some kudos. I love all of you so, so very much <3 Thank you.

**Author's Note:**

> How did you like it? Let me know in the comments. I may write Keith's reaction if enough of you want it, so just let me know, okay?


End file.
